As we watch the Trump circus show spin out on our TV screens, our minds wander back to the days when the Donald was the rabid right wing's hero, with his ridiculous "birther" claim that Obama was not an American-born citizen. Republicans loved him then and very few of them spoke up to call his claim the idiocy that it was. He was "their" guy and they rallied behind him, not realizing what a monster they were creating in their midst. Now the monster has staked his claim on their territory and is ravaging their more serious candidates, stomping on them as if he were Godzilla. It's karma playing out for all to see. They nursed him, supported him and fed him with their admiration and joint enthusiasm in hatred of Obama--and now, to their horror, they find out they own him.
I've been watching the FOX "news" hosts like Sean Hannity and Geraldo Rivera struggle with their words about Trump. Hannity wants SO much to see Trump stay in the race and keeps making excuses for him--and Geraldo rolls over and plays Beta dog to Hannity's Alpha. Hannity is so transparent in his egomania and unbridled hatred of Obama that he couldn't hide it even if he tried (which he doesn't). In an interview with the mother of one of the murdered Marines in South Carolina, he goaded her over and over to say something bad about Obama. The poor woman was overcome by grief at the loss of her son; she was noticeably still in shock about it all. But Hannity paid no attention to her stricken condition, giving only cursory--and obviously unfelt--words of "sympathy," while he doggedly kept at her with leading questions, trying to get her to blame Obama--even framing the words for her to agree to. What a pitiful thing to see. Hannity appeared to be an unfeeling sociopath.
O'Reilly remains the same blowhard he always was, with himself as his main hero and favorite "talking point." While watching him, all I can think of is how lucky for his ex-wife and children that they were finally able to get away from him. What a terrible fate to have to live with such an inflated raging-tempered egotist. He had many affairs and once pulled his wife by her hair down the stairs. A fine man. NOT. But a hero of the right wing Bubble dwellers.
So far, the polls don't seem to show too much of a drop in Trump's lead of the GOP candidates, even after his terrible remarks about McCain. It looks like he can get away with saying anything he wants, with no repercussions. I feel sorry for the military veterans who trusted/supported Trump and agreed with him in his remarks against the Mexicans but never saw his dissing of war heroes coming down the tracks. His remarks against McCain must have hit them like a ton of bricks. It's a hard lesson to find that your once-thought-of stalwart hero has feet of clay.
The August 6th GOP debate on FOX will be interesting to see the other 9 candidates (only the top 10 of the field of 16 are allowed by Fox to participate) try to outdo each other in verbal wrestling matches with the Donald, with the intent of being the one to bring him down. Hey, we're talking about the right wing here, so maybe they'll get into a real wrestling match with him! No holds barred! For sure, it will be the best entertainment on TV that night. Read the following to keep updated on the infighting going on in the GOP about Trump:
DONALD TRUMP: GOP CONSERVATIVE FRIEND OR FOE?
Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes differ in their views
By David Ferguson
On Sunday, the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal published an editorial calling Trump's campaign a "catastrophe" for the Republican Party.
"All too many conservatives, including some magazine editors, have been willing to overlook his hucksterism as he's risen in the polls," the editorial read.
"As a standard-bearer for conservative ideas, Mr. Trump would likewise be a catastrophe. His only discernible principle is the promotion of his personal brand. His main message seems to be that because he's rich and doesn't care what anyone thinks, he can afford to tell everyone to go to hell," it went on.
However, Gabriel Sherman — author of the Fox News exposé The Loudest Voice in the Room — wrote at New York magazine that at the conservative news channel, chairman and chief executive Roger Ailes is "pushing Fox to defend Trump's most outlandish comments."
Ailes — a former Nixon aide de camp — has reportedly charged certain Fox personalities, like The Five's co-host Eric Bolling, with continually backing Trump in on-air discussions.
"A review of Bolling's comments shows that over the past week, he's gone to bat for Trump numerous times," said Sherman. "Last Friday, for example, Bolling complained that conservatives shouldn't be criticizing the real-estate mogul. 'There's a problem in America, and it's not Donald Trump,' Bolling declared."
Media Matters' Lis Power noted that Trump has had a consistently laudatory, gushingly approving media home in Fox News' morning show Fox and Friends and its hosts, Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
"(W)hen Trump received widespread backlash for attacking Sen. John McCain's military record, claiming he is 'not a war hero' because he was a POW during the Vietnam War," said Power, "the Fox & Friends hosts quickly rallied behind the presidential contender. Doocy tried his best to spin Trump's remarks and claim Trump was criticizing McCain's Senate record, not his military service. Brian Kilmeade argued that Trump had called McCain a war hero four times (a claim that Politifact rated 'Mostly False,' as Trump's point was that McCain is a war hero 'because he was captured')."
On Tuesday, Doocy squealed that "someone told me yesterday Donald Trump is like a Navy SEAL."
During his South Carolina press event on Tuesday — in which he gave out Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC)'s cell phone number — Trump thanked the Fox and Friends crew for their support so far in his campaign.
"They're great people," said Trump.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment